▪ I. calf1
(kɑːf)
Forms: 1 cealf, celf, cælf, 2 Kentish chalf, 3 kelf, 3–5 kalf, 3– calf, (5 calffe), 6 caulf, Kentish chawlfe, 8 calve; (Sc. 6–9 cawf, 9 cauf). Pl. calves: 1 cealfru, calfru, calfur, cealfas, 4 calveren, calvys, 4–5 calfis, 7 calfes, 4– calves. (The genit. sing., esp. in comb., was frequently calves.)
[Common Teut.: OWS. cealf (pl. cealfru), OMercian cælf (pl. calferu, calfur), ONorthumbrian cælf, cęlf, correspond to OS. and MDu. calf (Du. kalf), OHG. chalb (MHG. kalp, kalb-, mod.G. kalb):—OTeut. *kalboz, -iz neut. In later WS. the word was often masc. (pl. cealfas) = ON. kálfr; in Goth. only the fem. kalbô (δάµαλις) = OHG. chalba, mod.G. kalbe female calf, is recorded.]
1. The young of any bovine animal, esp. of the domestic cow. ‘Calf is applied to all young cattle until they attain one year old, when they are year-olds or yearlings' (Stephens Bk. Farm I. 179).
in calf, with calf (said of the cow): pregnant. golden calf: the idol set up by Aaron, and the similar images set up by Jeroboam; sometimes proverbially with reference to the ‘worship’ of wealth. ‘the calves of our lips’ (a doubtful transl. of a difficult Heb. passage, in Hos. xiv. 2 where the LXX and Peschito have ‘fruit’) is occas. quoted in the sense of ‘an offering of praise’.
| a 800 Corpus Gl. 2144 (O.E.T.) Vitulus, cælf; vitula, cucælf. c 1000 ælfric Exod. xxxii. 4 Þa nam he þæt gold and ᵹet an cealf and hiᵹ cwædon Israhel þis ys þin God. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xv. 27 Þin fæder of-sloh an fæt celf [c 1160 Hatton G. chalf]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 138 Hit regibbeð anon, ase uet kelf and idel. c 1230 Hali Meid. 37 Hire calf sukeð. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1013 Kalues fleis, and flures bred. a 1300 Cursor M. 6503 Þair gold in tresur gadrid þai samen A goldin calf þar-of þai blu. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi[i]. 11 Many calfis has vmgifen me; fat bulles me has vmseged. c 1371 Wyclif Begg. Friers (1608) 12 Priests..wenten to calveren of gold. 1382 ― Hosea xiv. 2 We shuln ȝeelde the calues of our lippis [= Vulg. vitulos, lxx καρπόν]. c 1400 Mandeville ix. 105 Calveren of gold. 1483 Cath. Angl. 51 With Calfe, fetosus. 1534 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp. Canterb., Off y⊇ cat' of cristchurch for a chawlfe, iijs. iiijd. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 10 He that hath borne a calfe, shall also beare a bull. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 48 As wise as Waltam's calfe. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 89 A tail almost as long as a calves. 1629 J. Cole Of Death 105 Before we can offer unto God with a good conscience, the calves of our lips. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 416 They..fell off From God to worship Calves. 1727 Swift Modest Prop. Wks. 1755 II. ii. 66 Their mears in foal, their cows in calf. 1861 T. Martin Horace's Odes ii. v. 80 Your heifer bounding in play With the young calves. |
b. to slip (cast) the calf: to suffer abortion; said of the cow, also (
humorously) of women (
obs.)
| 1664 Pepys Diary 19 Sept., Fraizer is so great with..all the ladies at court, in helping to slip their calfes when there is occasion. 1842–71 Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 178 A cow that suffers abortion slips her calf. |
c. transf. Applied to human beings: A stupid fellow, a dolt; sometimes a meek inoffensive person. Also as a term of endearment.
Essex calf: a nickname for a native of that county.
| a 1553 Udall Royster D. ii. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 94 You great calf, ye should have more wit, so ye should. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 126 How now (you wanton Calfe) Art thou my Calfe? 1627 Drayton Nymphid. (1631) 171 Some silly doting brainless calfe. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 113 ¶3, I cried, like a Captivated Calf as I was. 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 43 It prov'd an Essex Calf. 1865 Punch 20 Apr., An Essex calf of the first magnitude. |
2. ellipt. Leather made from the hide or skin of a calf. (More fully
calf-leather; see 7.)
| 1727 Swift Furth. Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 156 As to the report of my poor husband's stealing o'calf, it is really groundless, for he always binds in sheep. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxviii. 9 The material used is Calf. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 88 Calf is..prepared by the process called by tanners ‘tawing’. |
3. The young of other animals; as of deer, the elephant, the whale.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxx. (1495) 793 The hynde etyth of the herbe Dragancia to be delyuerde of her calffe the more eesely. 1486 Bk. St. Albans E j b, Ye shall hym [a hart] a Calfe . call at the fyrst yere. 1597 Return fr. Parnass. ii. ii. v. 887 Your Hart is the first yeare a Calfe, the second yeare a Brochet. 1725 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 260 The Calf, or young Whale, has been found perfectly form'd in the Cow, when not above seventeen Inches long. 1860 Tennent Ceylon II. 397 An elephant, which had been captured by Mr. Cripps, dropped a female calf. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. xi. xi. §2. 155 The hounds also by their tongues indicate..the presence, if any, of a calf with the hind. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer iv. 63 The young of the..tall red deer are called calves. |
4. sea-calf, a popular name of the seal,
esp. Calocephalus vitulinus (or
Phoca vitulina).
| c 1613 Chapman Odyss. iv. (R.) In sholes the sea calues came. a 1711 Ken Hymnar. Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 182 The Calves Marine, who on firm Ground Are wont to take a Sleep profound. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 161/2 The vulgar name is sea-calf, and on that account the male is called the bull, and the female the cow. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvii. 221 Some overgrown Greenland calves..Very strange are these seal. |
5. transf. a. A small island lying close to a larger one. [
ON. kálfr; known in
Eng. only in ‘The Calf of Man’.]
| 1833 J. Gorton Topogr. Dict. I. 347 Calf of Man..An island, situated off the south-west extremity of the Isle of Man. 1860 H. Marryat Jutland I. vii. 91 The early North⁓men often named these small islands calves. 18.. Backwell Isle Man Guide 60 Beyond..lies the Calf of Man..The Calf..contains about 600 superficial acres of land. |
6. An iceberg detached from a coast glacier; a fragment of ice detached from an iceberg or floe.
| 1818 Edin. Rev. XXX. 18 The fragments of ice, which the seamen term calves. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlii. (1856) 395 The interposition of floating fragments or calves. Ibid. xliii. 401 Calves..fragments of tables..which have been forced down by pressure, and afterward..have been liberated again from the floe and find their way upward wherever an opening permits. |
7. Comb. a. Obvious and general, as
calf-brains,
calf-flesh,
calf-guts,
calf-head,
calf-house,
calf-leather,
calf-pen,
calf-whale,
calf-worship;
calf-like adj. and
adv. (For parts of the animal the genit.
calf's,
calves', is now usual.)
| ? c 1600 Distracted Emp. i. i. in O. Pl. (1884) III. 181 You love the cubboarde Wherein your *calves brayns are lockt up for breakfast. |
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2714 He..þam fedd wit *calf flesse [Trin. MS. calues flesshe]. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 661 Caro uitulina, calfflesche. |
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. iii. 34 It is a voyce in her eares which..*Calues-guts, nor the voyce of vnpaued Eunuch to boot, can neuer amend. |
| 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 87 To dress a *Calf's Head Surprise. 1813 Moore Post Bag iii. 34 The dish..Was, what old Mother Glasse calls, ‘a calf's-head surprised’! 1823 ― Fab., Holy Alliance ii. 91 A Duke, of birth sublime..(Some calf-head, ugly from all time). |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 472 *Calves-house, 22 feet by 16, with their pens. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 416/2 The calf-house..should be a roomy, well-ventilated building. |
| 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xxxviii. 200 Dress'd in a suit of *calve's-leather cloaths. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 179 *Calfe-like, they my lowing follow'd. |
| 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 86 Have the *calf-pens opening into the cowshed for convenience of suckling. |
| 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xiii, I was going to swim to the *calf whale. |
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah v. v. 152 *Calfe-worship..continued in the kingdome of Israel. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 82 He [Jeroboam] would have calf-worship to be the only worship of God. |
b. Special combinations:
calf-bed, a cow's matrix (
dial.); also (
humorous) parturition (of a cow),
cf. child-bed;
calf-bound a. (
Bookbinding), bound in calf (
cf. 2);
calf-country,
calf-ground (
Sc.), the place of one's birth or early life;
† calf-haulm (see
quot.);
calf-kill, a heath plant (
Kalmia latifolia) injurious to cattle eating it;
cf. ‘lambkill’
= K. angustifolia;
calf knee, popular name for the malformation called
genu valgum, or knock-knee;
calf-land = calf-country;
calf-lea (
Sc.), ‘infield ground, one year under natural grass’ (Jamieson);
calf-lick (
dial.), a tuft of hair on the forehead which will not lie smoothly and evenly; a cowlick, a ‘feather’;
† calf-lolly (?
nonce-wd.), a stupid calf;
calf-love, romantic attachment or affection between a boy and a girl;
calf-lymph, vaccine lymph obtained direct from the animal;
calf's-teeth n. pl., milk teeth;
calf-time, the period of youth;
calf-trundle (
dial.), ‘the entrails of a calf;
fig. applied to the ruffle of a shirt, or flounces of a gown’ (Halliwell);
calf-ward (
Sc.), a small field or enclosure for calves. Also
calf's-foot,
calf-skin,
calves'-snout.
| 1822 Southey Lett. (1856) III. 305 Your uncle Tom has lost a cow, in *calf-bed. |
| 1831 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 561 That, I believe, is his *calf-country. |
| 1884 Illust. Lond. News 21 June 606/2 We'll go and take a look at my *calf-ground. |
| 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 486 A Cow that strains in Calving, when their *Calf-haulm, Udder, or Bag, will come down and swell as much as a blown Bladder. 1765 Dickson Agric. xiii. 109 When it is only two or three years old, it is called, in some parts of the country, calf-lea. |
| 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxvii, I was..a *Calf-lolly, a Doddipole. |
| 1823 Galt Entail I. xxxii. 284, I made a *calf-love marriage. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. II. 104 It's a girl's fancy—Just a kind o' calf-love—let it go by. |
| 1884 Christian World 5 June 417/4 Any doctor can procure *calf-lymph for his patients. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 173/2 A *Calf Ride [is] a place made of Boughs..in which the Calf is kept whilst he is sucking. |
| 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (1841) 88 Ere your *calues teeth were out, you thought it long. |
| 1822 Scott Nigel ix, Where have you been spending your *calf-time? |
| 1785 Burns Dr. Hornbook xxiii, His braw *calf-ward whare gowans grew. |
▪ II. calf2 (
kɑːf)
Also 4
caalf, 5–7
calfe, 7
calue.
[app. a. ON. kálfi of unknown origin; adoption from Ir., Gael. calpa leg, calf of the leg, has been conjectured.] 1. The fleshy hinder part of the shank of the leg, formed by the bellies of muscles which move the foot.
| c 1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 148 La jambe, the caalf. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 592, fful longe were his legges and ful lene ylyk a staf ther was no calf ysene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 58 Calfe of a legge, sura. c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 678 Hic musculus, the calfe of the lege. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., The calfe ouer the leg mouyng the fote and ancle. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 645 His legge is too big for Hector. More Calfe certaine. 1794–6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) I. 58 The contraction of the calf of the leg in the cramp. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvii, A handsome person and calves. |
b. transf. The corresponding part of a stocking.
| a 1659 Cleveland Pet. Poem 55 My Stocking-calves..Are paradiz'd as naked as my Nock. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. i. ii, The calves of these stockings are thickened a little too much. |
2. Applied to the corresponding part of the arm containing the belly of the triceps muscle.
| 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. (1887) 33 The triceps..furnishes the calf of the upper arm. |
3. calf-length a. (of a garment, boots, etc.) reaching down to, or up to, the calf of the leg.
| 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 143 Turning up..in a calf-length white motoring coat. 1967 Harper's Bazaar Sept. 60/1 New calf-length skirt for the country. 1968 Ottawa Jrnl. 24 June 17/5 Sue Ellen..started down the aisle in white calf-length boots. 1969 J. Gardner Founder Member vii. 115 A pair of heavy calf-length stockings. |
▪ III. calf(e obs. form of
calve v.